envolvere

Envolvere is a Romance-language verb that appears in historical texts and regional spellings as the infinitive form related to the action of wrapping, enveloping or surrounding something, and, in some contexts, of involving or entangling a person or matter. In modern standard Romance languages, the corresponding forms are more commonly written as envolver (Spanish and Portuguese) or as related Italian forms such as coinvolgere or avvolgere.

Origins and cognates: the sense of envolvere is linked to the Latin verb involvere, meaning to roll in or to wrap. From this lineage, the contemporary Romance languages developed verbs with similar meanings. The standard modern forms in Spanish and Portuguese are envolver, with reflexive counterparts envolverse and envolver-se that convey wrapping oneself or getting involved. In Italian, the closest cognates are coinvolgere (to involve) and avvolgere (to wrap), while envolgere as a standalone infinitive is not common in standard usage.

Usage and meaning: enveloping or wrapping is the primary sense in many contexts, as in wrapping a package or enclosing something within a border. In some languages, the root also carries a figurative sense of involving or implicating, though the precise verb used for “to involve” varies by language (for example, involucrar in Spanish, envolver in Portuguese, and coinvolgere in Italian).

Conjugation notes: because envolvere is not the standard infinitive in contemporary Spanish or Portuguese, typical conjugations follow other verbs in the same family (for Spanish: envolver; for Portuguese: envolver). Reflexive forms such as envolverse (Spanish) or envolver-se (Portuguese) express wrapping oneself or becoming involved.

See also: envolver, envoltura, envolvido, coinvolgere, avvolgere.